


Harry Through the Looking Glass

by MyraValhallah



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-17
Updated: 2016-06-03
Packaged: 2018-05-27 07:00:24
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,247
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6274426
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MyraValhallah/pseuds/MyraValhallah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On the night that Harry Potter first encountered the Mirror of Erised he touched the glass and was pulled through into a parallel world where the only Potter do die that fateful Halloween night was Harry himself. As it seems that there is no way back, Harry settles into life with his family, but Voldemort's shadow looms over this world too, and what's this about a prophecy?<br/>A revised version of a work in progress. Also published on fanfiction dot net.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Harry Potter stared at the mirror in awe. It wasn't the mirror itself which captivated him so, but the image it held. Harry's reflection was surrounded by people: men and women of all ages, nearly all of whom bore some resemblance to him. Through this mirror Harry could see where he had got many of his own features- his nose, his chin… and if he wasn't much mistaken his own nobly knees. Tears stung his eyes as Harry realized just what it was that the mirror was showing him.

For the first time in his life he was looking at his family.

A hand on his shoulder startled him and Harry whipped around to find an empty room. Frowning Harry returned his attention to the mirror and saw a hand resting on his reflection's shoulder. Following the arm attached to that hand upwards Harry's eyes met a pair of hazel ones smiling at him from the face of a tall, thin, black haired man who looked just like he did.

"Dad?" he breathed.

The reflection of James Potter nodded, smiling at him with a crooked grin that was not his own. Next Harry looked into a pair of green eyes, the very same size and shape as his own shining out of the face of the beautiful red haired woman beside his father, smiling Harry's own smile.

"Mum?" he blinked furiously as the tears returned to his eyes.

Harry stiffened as he felt a hand ruffle his hair. In the mirror there was a girl standing right beside him. The girl, who looked like she could be in fourth year, was ruffling his already messy hair with her knuckles. The girl looked as much like his mother as he did his father but her eyes were the same hazel as James'. It occurred to him that this girl might well be a sister to him.

This was all he wanted- a family to love him for just being Harry.

He didn't want to be famous, especially not for something he didn't remember; especially since his rise to fame had taken his parents from him. Why must he be the 'Boy Who Lived'? Why couldn't he have what everyone else took for granted?

Harry took a step towards the mirror as if, if he wished hard enough, he could step through the glass and join this perfect family that Voldemort had taken from him ten years ago.

The glass was warm under his fingers, warm and oddly fluid.

Alarmed Harry tried to pull away but the glass came with him. The harder he pulled, the tighter the glass gripped his fingers- he was trapped.

All at once, as if sensing his surrender the mirror snapped back into a smooth surface, dragging Harry and the invisibility cloak in his hand through its surface and into the unknown.


	2. One: Harry Through the Looking Glass

Harry Potter was lying spread-eagled on a stone floor. He had been lying there, with his eyes shut for some time, trying to make the world stop spinning, or at least, stop spinning so fast. He squeezed the silken fabric of the invisibility cloak in his hands. He clutched at it like a lifeline, as if it were the only thing he could trust.

Finally, Harry decided that it was time to open his eyes. To his utter astonishment he was surrounded by mountains of clutter, odds and ends and assorted things that Harry had no idea how to even begin naming. The piles stretched as far as the eye could see and some rose as high as the vaulted ceiling overhead. He got gingerly to his feet, moving slowly so he didn’t fall- which he felt was a distinct possibility. Looking over his shoulder Harry frowned at the sight of the mirror which had landed him in this indoor scrap yard.

He needed to get away from the thing, at least for now. He had to find out where he was, needed to find somewhere to sleep off his lingering dizziness. Harry picked his way through the piles of stuff and it wasn’t long until he found a wooden door, very like the ones in Hogwarts. Relief flooded him; if he was in Hogwarts then he could happily return to examine the mirror again in the future.

Harry let himself out of the room and found himself in a Hogwarts corridor, in broad daylight. Harry frowned; how long had he been out? The corridor was deserted but Harry pulled the cloak around his shoulders, not wanting anyone to see him in his pyjamas.

“What the hell…?” Harry stiffened at the sound of a female voice from behind him. He turned to find a red haired girl in Gryffindor uniform standing before him. She looked vaguely familiar, and angry. The girl raised her wand. “Who are you kid and what the hell are you doing with that cloak?” She took a step towards him. “It’s mine, and it was in my trunk the last time I checked so how did you get your grubby little mitts on it?”

“It’s mine,” Harry retorted hotly. “It was my dad’s before he died, I was given it for Christmas.”

“Try again kid,” the girl hissed. “I’ve had that cloak since I was a firstie, I’d know it anywhere.” She held out her free hand. “Hand it over and I’ll forget this happened. Who are you anyway? I thought I knew all you first years.”

Harry blinked. He hadn’t been asked that question since he had entered the Wizarding world. “Wh-what?”

“You deaf?” the girl asked, icily. “I asked you to hand my cloak over.”

“No I heard that bit,” said Harry, though he made no move to hand the cloak over to this strange girl. “I… you asked me who I am…”

“Pretty standard thing to do if you don’t know who the heck someone is, y’know,”

“B-but I’m Harry Potter,”

The girl took a step back, her face contorting into a mask of pain and rage. “You nasty little… you think that’s funny do you?”

“I…” Harry began but the girl slammed him up against the wall, her wand trained on his face.

“No,” she snarled. “You don’t get to speak! You’re going to listen and listen good, right? I don’t care who you are, what house you’re in or any of that, but there are lines you don’t cross and pretending to be someone’s dead baby brother, got it, sunshine?”

“D-dead…?” Harry gasped. “I don’t…”

“Shut _up!_ ” the girl’s hazel eyes flashed dangerously. “Of course you know, nobody in Wizarding Britain _doesn’t_ know what happened that night!”

“R-really…” Harry squirmed in the girl’s grasp. “I am Harry Potter, my parents were Lily and James Potter, Voldemort killed them when I was a baby, I swear!”

The girl dropped him and stumbled away from him. “W-what? I… I don’t… How?” Trembling, the girl reached into her bag and pulled out a piece of parchment. She spread it and touched her wand to it, muttering something about swearing to be good and a moment later, her eyes were on him again but she looked ready to cry. “H-Harry? How is this possible?”

“What?” Harry asked, lost.

“You don’t know who I am, do you?” the girl pressed. “Merlin, you’ve no idea…”

“About what?”

“If you are Harry Potter, then you must think I’m dead too…”

Harry blinked. “I don’t… what…?”

“My name is Robyn,” the girl told him, her face grave. “Robyn Potter, my parents are Lily and James Potter- nearly ten years ago Voldemort came to our home and killed my baby brother, Harry.”

Harry’s world was spinning again. He felt sick. Dizzy. His knees buckled beneath him the last thing he was aware of before the darkness consumed him was the girl, Robyn lunging forwards to catch him as he fell.

* * *

“I don’t understand it Headmaster,” the voice of Madam Pomfrey was the first sound Harry became aware of as the blanket of darkness he had been trapped in began to lift. “Miss Potter claims that she found him in while she was on her way down to breakfast, but how did he get here? I mean, if he is who she claims, he’s been dead for nearly ten years- this is impossible.”

 “Ah Poppy,” Dumbledore’s voice returned, evenly. “That is a question that I cannot answer, but the fact remains that the boy is here now and I highly doubt that whatever route he took to get here goes both ways- Lily and James must be informed of this, of course.”

_‘Miss Potter?’_ Harry thought, though it hurt to do so. ‘ _Lily and James?_ ’

“Of course Headmaster,” Madame Pomphrey agreed, hurriedly. “But how is he here? And that scar on his forehead…?”

“I suspect that it’s a curse scar,” Dumbledore told her. “He’ll have it forever.”

“How is he still alive?” the Matron asked. “I mean to say, there were so many witnesses to what happened in Godric’s Hollow that night…”

“I believe that Harry’s story will be of interest to many people,” the headmaster said, evenly “It is entirely possible that he comes from an entirely different reality- one wherein things transpired very differently that night.”

Deciding that it was time he woke up, Harry groaned and opened his eyes a crack, the light was painful so he instantly shut them again.

“Ah,” He could only imagine that Dumbledore’s eyes would have that twinkle in them. “Poppy, your patient awakes- I’d like to talk to him when you have finished with him, as I suppose would his sister.”

His sister?

Oh that’s right; the girl, Robyn, had said that she was his sister- but he had no sister, no parents… only the Dursleys and they barely even counted as family in his book.

“I’ll have a House elf fetch you sir,” Madame Pomfrey nodded.

“Very good,” and with that Dumbledore left the Hospital Wing.

* * *

Robyn Lily Potter sat on her bed, staring at the invisibility cloak that she’d mistaken for her own. It was an easy mistake to make- they were identical. She had hidden it in her bag before taking Harry to the Hospital Wing. After she had explained the situation, as she understood it, to Madame Pomfrey, the matron had sent her back to Gryffindor tower, seeing no harm in excusing her from lessons that day as close as they were to the end of term.

Despite the evidence Robyn could hardly believe that Harry was apparently back from the dead. The Marauders’ Map- which Robyn had filched from Filch’s office at the earliest opportunity back in her first year- told her that the boy she had found was her brother. She knew that the Map never lied, but the truth was rather hard to believe.

“Bobby?” Robyn started at the sound of the nickname that only a select few were allowed to call her. “Hey Bobby! Where are you?”

Robyn pulled her bag towards her and pulled out the two-way mirror from which her name was being called and tried for a smile as she saw her three best friends, Will, Teddy and Percy, huddled together in the glass. “Hey guys,”

William Black and Edward ‘Teddy’ Lupin had been in her life forever, their fathers were close as brothers. Percy Weasley had joined their trio part way through their second year when he had finally removed the proverbial stick from up his arse and the four of them had been inseparable ever since.

“Where are you?” Will asked between mouthfuls of breakfast. “You’re missing breakfast.”

“My dormitory,” she told them, carding her fingers through her red hair. “I’ve… I had a bit of a shock.”

Will swallowed his food as Teddy asked. “What happened?”

“Are you ok?” this from Percy.

“Yeah,” or at least she would be. “Something wonderful has happened guys.”

And then the dam burst and she burst into tears.

Unnoticed by Robyn, the three boys exchanged a worried glance.

“We’re coming up Bobby,” Will told her, seriously. “Go wait in our dormitory and we’ll be right with you.”

Their image in the mirror faded and Robyn’s sobs redoubled.

~v~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Harry meets his parents


	3. Chapter Two: The Mirror of Erised

**_ Chapter Two: The Mirror of Erised _ **

Ever since she was old enough to understand what had happened the night that Voldemort fell Robyn had blamed herself for her brother’s death. While she knew, rationally, that it wasn’t her fault- she had been three at the time, days away from her fourth birthday- in her darker moments Robyn had come to the conclusion that if she had listened to her mother and not tried to fly her toy broomstick up the stairs, then Pettigrew would not have been able to lead the bastard into their home. Of course, reason said that she and her mother were alive because of the broken leg that she had sustained from falling off the worn out broomstick but reason did nothing to change the way she felt.

Once Robyn’s tears had abated she crossed to the bathroom wash her face before hiding the two invisibility cloaks and the mirror in her trunk on the off chance that one of her dorm mates might see them. Not bothering to change her clothes, Robyn pocketed the Marauder’s Map and hurried to the boys’ dormitory. She wasn’t quite ready to see her friends yet, but Will and Teddy were nothing if not persistent- they had, in the past, entered her dormitory through the window when she refused to share something with them. On arriving in her friends’ dormitory Robyn sat on Teddy’s bed to wait for them. She wasn’t waiting long.

“I notice that Perce, isn’t with you,” she said, entirely unsurprised. “Let me guess, he volunteered for note-taking duty?”

This was Percy’s preferred role on the rare event that more than one of them skived off a lesson.

“Where else would he be,” Will confirmed as he and Teddy sat with her on the bed. “So, what’s the story?”

Robyn swallowed trying to dislodge the lump which had returned to her throat. “It’s Harry,” she said. “He’s back.”

Stunned silence followed this and Robyn didn’t need to look at her friends to know that they were staring at her.

“Wh-what?” Will was the one to break the silence. “Bobby, I…”

“What happened?” Teddy asked, cutting Will off.

Robyn told them. Her voice was wooden as she spoke of the boy with the invisibility cloak; about how she had all but attacked him when he had told her his name. “It shouldn’t be possible I know,” she finished. “But the only alternative is that there’s something wrong with the map.”

“But the map never lies,” the boys chorused.

“Tell me something I don’t know guys,” Robyn retorted, more harshly than she intended. She blushed. “Sorry, but look.”

She spread the map and when it had revealed itself to them her eyes scanned the castle for her brother’s name. “Look, in Dumbledore’s office.”

“Strewth!” Will yelped while Teddy let out a choked: “Merlin!”

Robyn could only nod in reply.

* * *

Harry sat alone in Dumbledore's office, waiting for the headmaster to return. Since he had woken up in the Hospital wing Harry had made some rather strange discoveries: in this world he was dead, and had been for nearly ten years. However, while he had been dead, his parents were alive, and he had an older sister. And then; and what it was about his current situation that struck him as most bizarre; he had apparently travelled back in time a good six months.

According to the copy of the Morning Prophet on Dumbledore’s desk, it was 29th June 1991.

 _‘Dudley’s birthday tomorrow,’_ his mind supplied, although he hadn’t a clue why that had been his first thought.

Harry tore his eyes away from the newspaper, and fixed his gaze on the large perch in the corner of the room. His wand was lying on beside the newspaper, but while he itched to reach out and take it back, he dared not. Instead he tried to content himself with attempting to guess what kind of owl Dumbledore kept.

“A phoenix,”

Harry yelped, startled by the headmaster’s voice. Dumbledore was standing in the doorway. “Sorry professor?”

Dumbledore smiled as he moved to sit at his desk. “You were wondering what manner of bird I keep on such an elaborate perch, and the answer my boy, is a phoenix.”

Harry blinked. “Oh,”

It made sense he supposed, he couldn’t imagine his headmaster keeping an owl. With a pang he thought of Hedwig, who was waiting for him back in his own world. Harry swallowed and asked.

“Professor, will I ever be able to get back to… where I came from?”

Dumbledore looked grave and Harry had a sinking feeling that he knew what the headmaster was about to say.

“I am sorry Harry, but without knowing just how you come to find yourself here I there is no way to know.”

And so Harry had to tell Professor Dumbledore about finding the weird mirror and how it had pulled him through the glass when he had touched it.

* * *

Meanwhile, in London

Lily Potter stepped out of the floo and put her shopping bags down on the kitchen table. Just as she was just putting the last of her purchases away something silvery in her periphery drew her gaze. She turned, just in time to see the silver phoenix which was her former Headmaster’s Patronus just as Dumbledore’s voice began to ring out of it.

“Lily, James, I need you to come up to Hogwarts as quickly as possible as an unusual situation has arisen with regard to your family.”

Lily frowned as the patronus faded away to nothing, its message delivered. “What has that girl done this time?”

She loved her daughter dearly, but Robyn had a little too much of James in her for her own good. Lily shook her head and cast her own patronus repeating Dumbledore’s message adding that she would meet James at Hogwarts, and then sent the silver doe off to her husband, who was currently at work. Then Lily threw a handful of floo powder into the fireplace and said: “Headmaster’s office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry,” before stepping into the emerald flames.

* * *

“Fascinating,” said Dumbledore when Harry had finished his story.  His face was grave and Harry had the sinking feeling that he was about to receive some bad news. “Unfortunately Harry, I believe it unlikely that you will be able to return to your world the way that you arrived.”

Harry might have responded to that but the fire, which had been crackling merrily since before he had entered the room, was suddenly dyed emerald green and a woman stepped out of the flames.

The woman, who looked to be in her thirties, bore a striking resemblance to Robyn; the same dark red hair and nose with the same light smattering of freckles. The woman however, had Harry’s green eyes. Harry’s jaw dropped open as he took in the sight of his mother, Lily, in the flesh, for the first time in his life.

“Headmaster, I got your…” Lily’s voice trailed off and her eyes widened as she caught sight of Harry. “W-what…? Albus, how… I don’t…”

“Lily,” said Dumbledore, calmly. “I would like to introduce you to Mr Harry Potter.”

Face pale, Lily Potter had crossed Dumbledore’s office in a heartbeat. She crouched before Harry’s chair, staring at his face through glittering eyes. One hand rose to his face, to his scar…

“Oh Harry…” she whispered, and suddenly Harry was in her arms. Her lips grazed his forehead as the fingers of her right hand raked through his hair. “Harry, Harry, Harry.”

“Albus, Lily, I…?” a man’s voice asked, from the direction of the fireplace. “What the hell…?”

Lily drew away from Harry, but only far enough to address the newcomer, one hand remained on his shoulder. Harry looked up at the man who had entered and found himself looking at a face very like his own, without the scar. His hazel eyes were covered by square glasses rather than Harry’s own round ones.

“James, look,” she said, quietly, thickly. “It’s Harry…”

James Potter blinked. “But…?”

“ _Look!_ ” Lily insisted, the hand which had been on Harry’s shoulder rose to his face. “Look at him, James, he looks _just_ like you, who else could he be?”

James’s eyes scoured Harry’s face; then his flicked upwards, going over his head, then came back to rest on Harry’s face again.

“H-Harry?” he rasped.

“Hi,” said Harry, feeling stupid.

A knock on the door broke the spell over the room, and, after a moment, it opened and the familiar batlike form of Professor Snape swept in, in one hand he held a small vial of transparent liquid.

“Headmaster, I…” Snape began only to fall silent as he took in the scene before him. His eyes flicked from Lily, to Harry, to James and back to Harry. His lips curled in distaste. “Ah,” he purred. “I see,”

James turned away from Harry now, and said with seemingly exaggerated politeness. “And _what_ is it that you _see, Sni…_ ah, _Professor Snape._ ”

“I see, _Auror_ Potter,” Snape returned with the same exaggerated politeness. “The reason why the Headmaster asked me to bring him a vial of veritaserum,”

Lily stiffened before rounding on Dumbledore. “What?! Headmaster, _why?_ ”

It was Snape who answered, his tone _actually_ softening slightly. “Because Lily, this _boy_ is most likely _not_ who he claims to be. Though I cannot fathom _why_ anyone would voluntarily choose to look _anything_ like _him._ ”

This last was said with an accompanying nod in James’ direction. Lily was on her feet, though still close enough to maintain her contact with Harry.

“That is enough, I am sick of this pettiness towards James, and our daughter, our _children._ ” She growled. “Your idiotic feud with my family has gone on long enough, yes we all know that you and James don’t like one another, nobody is asking you to, but what in Merlin’s name gives you the right to discriminate against children simply because of a twenty three year old grudge…?”

“Lily please,” Dumbledore cut in. “This is a mere formality, just to verify Harry’s story. Given that the boy claims to be Harry Potter, I thought it prudent to have you and James in the room when I question Harry under veritaserum…”

“Um…?” Harry put in. “What’s veritasium…”

“Verita _serum_ Harry,” Dumbledore corrected. “Is a powerful truth potion,” Harry's shock must have been written on his face because Dumbledore felt the need to console him. “Harry please understand that this is a formality- you have been dead for nearly ten years, after all.”

“Alright,” said Harry, he had nothing to hide. “I’ll take the potion.”

“Oh Harry, sweetheart,” Lily shook her head. “You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”

“No… m-mum,” Harry returned, stumbling slightly over the word, but relishing the fact that, by using it, he had made the woman smile. “I don’t mind,” not completely true. “Really, I have nothing to hide.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Harry takes veritaserum


	4. Chapter Three: Veritaserum

That Lily was unhappy with Harry’s decision to take veritaserum was obvious. She sat beside her husband with her lips pursed in disapproval. For the first time Harry thought that his mother- and wasn’t it strange being able to ascribe that word to a living person- looked something like Aunt Petunia. Harry tried to ignore the guilt that he felt at being the cause of his mother’s upset so soon after their reunion as he reached out to take the vial of veritaserum from the Headmaster.

“Harry, really,” Lily tried again. “You don’t have to do this.”

Harry doubted that he would be able to convince his mother otherwise so he said nothing as he uncorked the vial and put it to his lips.

“Just a drop Harry,” Dumbledore cautioned. “This is an extremely potent potion.”

Harry nodded and took a tiny sip. The potion didn’t appear to taste of anything. He looked down at the vial and frowned, and remarked to nobody in particular. “I think Snape gave us the wrong vial.”

His father burst out laughing at that and he was sure that he heard his mother make a small noise of reluctant amusement.

“ _Professor_ Snape, Harry,” Dumbledore corrected him. “And I am sure that this is the correct vial. Now young man, what is your name?”

“Harry James Potter,” said Harry automatically.

“And when is your birthday, Harry?” Dumbledore asked.

“The 31st July 1981 sir,”

“So you are ten years old?”

“No sir,” Harry said. “I’m eleven, in my world it was Christmas night.”

“Indeed,” Dumbledore hummed. “Now, Harry, who are your parents?”

“Lily and James Potter, Professor.” Harry announced. "They died when I was one when Voldemort came to kill us."

He heard the Lily Potter who was very much alive let out a strangled sob and the James Potter, who was equally alive, make to comfort his wife.

“Have you any siblings, Harry?” Dumbledore pressed.

“No sir,” he returned. “I’m an only child.”

Dumbledore hummed again. “You said, Harry, that you lost your parents as a baby when Voldemort came to kill you- how, may I ask, did you survive that night?"

"I don't know," said Harry.

“I see,” Dumbledore said, then he asked. "And, who raised you after you lost your parents?"

"My Aunt and Uncle," Harry replied. "Vernon and Petunia Dursley,"

“Where was Padfoot?” was James’ rather cryptic question. “There’s no world out there where he wouldn’t have taken Harry if anything happened to us.”

“Shh James,” Lily hissed.

Dumbledore ignored this and carried on as though Lily and James had not spoken. "How Harry, did you get here, to this world?"

"I came through a weird mirror.” Harry told them. “It sort of pulled me through, and I woke up here.”

"Why weren't you in your bed? It was hours after lights out."

Harry told the room at large about how he had received his late father's invisibility cloak for Christmas and how he'd used it to sneak into the restricted section of the library to research the name Nicholas Flamel; he spoke of running from Filch, into the room with the mirror in it.

"I saw myself with my parents, and a girl who I think might be Robyn," here he cast a glance in his parents’ direction. "I touched the glass and it pulled me through. I hadn’t been here very long before Robyn found me."

“Thank you Harry, no more questions,” Dumbledore smiled and offered him a new vial. “Here, the antidote.”

Harry took the antidote and winced at the bitter taste. “Ugh,”

And then he was in Lily’s arms again. “You really didn’t have to do that sweetheart.”

* * *

Robyn traced the familiar route up to Dumbledore’s office and stooped in front of the gargoyle which guarded the Headmaster’s study. She had received a message from Dumbledore himself asking her to come up his office for a reason which she would bet her broomstick was to do with her brother.

“Cockroach cluster,” she said and the gargoyle which guarded the entrance leaped aside allowing her to pass. “Thank you Graham.”

"I keep telling you not to call me that!" the gargoyle harrumphed as it leapt back into place.

Robyn had given the gargoyle this name back in first year and the only reason she kept the practice up three years later was because it annoyed him so much.

"You know you like it really  _Graham,_ " Robyn called as she ascended the spiral stair case to Dumbledore's office. At the top of the stairs she raised her hand and rapped on the door.

"Come in Robyn,"

Robyn lowered her hand, shaking her head. How did he always know?

The fifteen year old witch let herself into the office to find her little brother and their parents sitting with the headmaster.

“Mum, Dad, hi,” she greeted them, with the end of summer term mere days away she had not anticipated that Dumbledore would bring them into school to meet Harry, though now that it had happened it seemed so obvious. “Hey, Harry, you’re looking better.”

And he did too. He had more colour about him and it made him look even more like their father.

“Thanks,” said Harry.

“Robyn,” said Dumbledore. “I called you up here to ask if you would show young Harry around the castle, I have a matter to discuss with your parents.”

“Of course professor,” Robyn nodded. “C’mon Harry,”

Harry looked uncomfortable. “But…”

“Go on sweetheart,” their mother encouraged with a tight smile- it was clear that she wanted to keep Harry close for a while but whatever this was about was obviously about what had happened ten years ago, and Robyn for her part did not want to have to think about that- not now, not anymore. “It’s alright.”

And finally, Harry allowed her to lead him from the headmaster’s office.

* * *

When the door had clicked shut behind the two younger members of the Potter family, Albus drew his wand and cast a silent muffliato charm to prevent what he had to say from reaching the children’s ears should they make an attempt to eavesdrop.

“How is this possible, Albus?” Lily demanded as soon as he had set his wand down on his desk. “Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before?”

“No,” he admitted. “But more learned men even than I are being surprised by what magic is capable of each and every day. I must tell you that I doubt that Harry’s… reappearance is in any way coincidental.”

“What are you saying?” James asked, wincing slightly as his wife squeezed his hand.

“I believe that we were wrong in assuming that Sybil’s prophecy had been fulfilled with Harry’s death.”

* * *

Harry had given up trying to tell Robyn that he didn't need to be given a guided tour when she had started showing him secret passages that he had never dreamed of.

“And these,” she said, bringing the tour to a halt beside a large painting of a bowl of fruit, and tickling a pear. “Are the kitchens.”

The pear began to laugh and all of a sudden the painting swung itself away from the wall and revealed a huge room. It was about the size of the Great Hall and there were tables set out paralleling the four house tables and staff table.

“Welcome back Miss Potter and welcome Sir,” they were greeted by a great number of small creatures with large bat-like ears and huge eyes, all of whom looked to be dressed in towline togas bedecked by the Hogwarts crest.

“This is my little brother, Harry,” Robyn told the creatures. “He's new here and I've been given the day off to show him around. Harry, these happy little campers are the Hogwarts House Elves.”

Harry gave his sister a questioning look.

“We can't stay this time, but my brother looks hungry.”

The House Elves promptly disappeared, returning minutes later with spindly arms laden with edible goodies.

“Here you are sir and miss- please come back soon.”

“We will- thank you,”

The kitchen door closed once again and Robyn cast a spell on the pocket of her robes and began stuffing food into it- it all fit.

“Gotta love the engorgement charm,” she grinned, offering him a toffee apple.

On taking the proffered treat Harry meant to say ‘ _Thank you,_ ’ but the words came out: “What's a House Elf?”

~v~

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next time: Harry goes home with his parents and the summer term comes to an end

**Author's Note:**

> Next time: Harry gets a less than stellar welcome


End file.
